Advice please on what diet to give.

[LondonLady1980]

Two weeks ago I got two cats from a rescue centre. All was absolutely fine, they’re beautiful cats and after a few days of settling in it was like they’d always been here.

Yesterday afternoon one of the cats started showing signs of cystitis so I took her to the vet this morning who confirmed it and treated her (stress induced cystitis as opposed to bacterial).

He asked what diet they have and I said they each have a pouch of wet food in the AM and in the evening, with dry food also being available to them. He asked what brand asked I told him it was Whiskas.

He said that using that food wasn’t ideal and it may have contributed to the cystitis and suggested I relooked at their diet. Not a problem, I’m happy to do that as I want what’s best for them.

I went to PAH on my back back from the Vets and some of the prices of the cat food nearly made
me cry.

I do not want to scrimp on the diet quality at all, but at the same time I need something that is financially doable.

Can you all give me some recommendations on what foods you give and your feeding schedules?

Thank you.

Personally, I'd carry on with Whiskas and at least see what happens. It's usually dry cat food that gets linked to cystitis, as cats that are fed mainly on the dry stuff often don't get enough moisture in their diet. The diet you are giving to your cats is exactly what I've been giving my cats for decades, none have ever had cystitis. I honestly think your vet is talking out of his arse.

It's stress not the diet. My cats eat whatever I buy and they're fine.
They prefer the pouches but it's too expensive.

We do a mix of high/low. He prefers cheap junk but I want him to have better quality, so we compromise. Dry is Go Cat and Royal Canin alternated, and wet is Sheba and Untamed alternated. When we adopted him he was actually on Whiskas so we stuck to that for a week or so, then gradually transitioned him off - I thought it smelled really bad compared to other brands. Our previous cat mainly ate Felix wet and RC dry.

I was advised that either the wet or the dry should be good quality, but they don't both need to be.

For dry something like Royal Canin, Purina Pro Plan, Iams or Hills Science should be good. I used to give Felix AGAIL, then tried Gourmet, Sheba and a couple of others, but Tobias has digestion issues so moved to grain free wet food. They now get HiLife Tuna flakes in jelly in the morning, and Harringtons meaty in gravy in the evening. Indoor only cats, so one pouch shared morning & evening (dry near enough ad lib).

I am a slave to the Ginger King of Stress Induced Urinary Issues. It’s very unlikely to the diet and absolutely more that they’ve been in a rescue and moved into a home and it takes them longer to adjust than they show.

My boys have Hi-Life pouches morning and evening and Arden Grange biscuits. Said Ginger King was moved onto prescription urinary food after a particularly bad bout last year.

The magic bullet however, is Cystease supplements! Can be bought off Amazon and sprinkled into food. We had a month of ongoing issues last year and getting him onto these and then doubling the dose absolutely cracked it. Can’t recommend enough, one or two a day, depending on size!

Thank you everyone!!!

She had an injection whilst at the Vets (an anti-inflammatory of some sorts) and we’ve been sent home with a 10 day course of Gabapentin (3 times a day).

I have bought a Feliway diffuser and 5 days worth of pouched food and dry food that is supposed to be good for the urinary tract.

I will then return to her usual diet and see how things go. I will certainly look into the Cystease supplements!

You could always buy her some higher quality food and alternate with the Whiskas.

My cats have Pets at Home Seriously Good in the evenings, Lilys or Scrumbles in the mornings - whatever they have its a minimum of 60% meat. For dry they have Hills Perfect Weight. Monthly about £120, plus insurance, pet plan (for flea/worm treatment, vaccs and 6 monthly check-up), plus bits and bobs and allowance for a cat sitter for about four weeks a year. Overall the monthly cost is about £220.

I'm sorry op but if you commit to a pet, you do the sums and work it out.

Personally I wouldn't feed a cat Whiskas, Felix, Sheba, etc. Notwithstanding the meat/fish content, it stinks. It's the equivalent of pre-formed nuggets.

When my girls arrived as rescues they were anxious, their fur was hard and thin, they had been on Whiskas and reeked. They are now fragrant, calmer (one remains anxious), and their fur is glossy and lush

I gave £400 to the rescue last week for the cats as well as spending almost £200 on beds/toys/litter trays etc and everything else they need.

I have them booked in for their vaccinations, flea and worm treatment next week which is going to be another £350.

I have then spent another £100 getting their medical treatment today.

And I have also started their insurance plans.

That’s over £1200 in 3 weeks to ensure I can give these lovely girls a fresh start from the awful background they have come from.

All I was asking for was some dietary advice in the short term due to the large sum I’ve had to pay out in this relatively short time period, and as I’ve said, I have paid out for the specialist food for managing UTI’s to give alongside her treatment.

Please don’t insinuate that I’m trying to scrimp and I’ve “not done the sums” and that I’m an irresponsible owner which is basically what you’re implying.

I’m doing everything I can for them and I have found your post and your insinuations quite upsetting.

Nobody should be guilt tripped because they give their cats Whiskas. Any product sold in the UK as a complete cat food has to follow stringent regulations. My cats have always been fed on Whiskas and other mainstream supermarket brands and they’ve all done just fine. The claims made by the super expensive brands are marketing bullshit. Don’t believe the hype!

@LondonLady1980 you said the prices at Pets at Home nearly made you cry and you needed something more affordable.

£350 for a vet check, vaccs and flea treatment seems very steep to me.

Perhaps if you had written that you had spent £1200 on them this month and needed temporary suggestions for the next month or so before switching to something different, my response may have been different. However, I stand by what I said and note my local rescue deals first hand with abandoned cats due to cost of ownership and regularly has to say no to owners who want to abandon cats due to costs/vet fees.

OP, you probably know this and I am not trying to be rude, but watch if you are chopping and changing, as often cats don’t like it/it can upset their tummies. I’d generally mix a bit of a new food with an old one, then add a bit more and do a switch over a few days. It’s easier with dry - we got Louie off the Whiskas biscuits very quickly but the wet was a slower process.

We tried loads of things when we got him and he was fussy AF. He wouldn’t touch the tiny Scrumbles balls at all, hated the fancy-ass raw frozen stuff and mainly licked gravy off wet foods. Do I love that he has Sheba? No, not really, but I’d rather feed him something he eats and enjoys than something higher quality that sits in his dish and then gets chucked. That said, I watched him swipe a slice of pepperoni pizza off the side earlier, he was a stray kitten and is a right little chancer around human food.

Our previous cat would eat any food, clean plate club every single time, so it was a surprise to find this lad is such a fussy little monkey!

(Cost-wise we get a box of Untamed tins delivered each month, and a sack thing of Royal Canin biscuits, then a box of Go Cat and a box of Sheba in the supermarket delivery. It probably adds up to about £60 for food, then insurance and flea/worm stuff (we do get that from the vet but I know we pay over the odds for it, it’s just easier) on top.)

Monthly about £120,
Overall the monthly cost is about £220.

So well over half your bills for the cats is on food. Given the tremendous difference in prices between the "basic" brands and the most expensive, you could be talking around £60-80 per month maybe more - assuming they don't need specialist veterinary recipes.

I'll hazard a guess that £60-80 a month "spare" should be quite enough contingency to make cat ownership a reasonable decision.

I notice you haven't put litter anywhere in your costings?

Our cat really struggled with UTIs until we switched to royal canin urinary SO it’s expensive but saved the absolute fortune we were giving the vets. We get it in a huge bag delivered every 6 weeks. For wet food we stick with Sheba fine flakes as it’s the only thing he will eat (must be poultry and in gravy or the royal highness rejects).

Cystease works too as well as adding water to the biscuits to make them like cereal- it forces them to stay hydrated.

Congrats on your new overlords. I’m cost conscious and did my research and I do think a quality diet can be cost effective overall given the conceit will reduce health problems and vet bills which can be extortionate.
I probably over worried. My boy cat has wet and dry and I feed Meowing Heads wet plus scrumbles dry as they’re both v high meat content and good value considering their ingredients.
That said my previous girl cats lived to a very old and healthy age when I didn’t have the internet so just bought whiskas from the supermarket and didn’t give it another thought!
I do think wet and dry is best. So they get some moisture and also get some dry for their teeth health.

Vets get paid for recommending expensive foods!!!

The Royal Canin Urinary dry food is going down a treat!

I got the same Urine brand for her wet food too and the first time I offered it to her last night she was not impressed at all abd completely refused to eat it. As a result I mixed in half a pouch of her usual wet food (thanks to the poster who suggested that above) and then my girl ate it all.

I did the same this morning and she ate it all again so I will continue with that method.

So it’s been 24 hours (almost) since she saw the vet so she’s had the initial injection when we were there, and two doses of her gabapentin so far and although we haven’t seen an improvement in her urinating volumes she is so much more content in herself. She is no longer pacing or seeming stressed (which is what I was finding really hard to observe when she was at her worst), her breathing is much more settled, she’s resting more as opposed to acting agitated all the time, and she’s back to her usual interactive and playful self too whereas previously she was hiding away and not wanting to play with her toys etc.

So I’m hoping that as we continue with her gabapentin alongside the change in her diet she will start urinating larger volumes and things will just settle down.

Glad she is doing better, OP - it’s so horrible when they’re not right and they can’t tell you how they’re feeling. Also pleased she is eating the new food!

Im a little anxious about sleepy the Gabapentin is making her, but the Vet said that’s a side effect to be aware of so I’m trying not to worry too much (easier said than done though) and I’m hoping that as she adjusts to having it the sedative effects won’t be so strong.

It will almost certainly be the Gabapentin making her sleepy. We have just had our boy on it for a mouth issue and he was very sleepy the whole time.

Stick with the gabapentin, it makes them relaxed enough to wee, which is important. It’s sad to see them sleepy but this will lift when you take her off it (once it’s done it’s job!)

Gabapentin knocks out most humans who take it, so I'd guess it's having the same effect on the cat!

Tobias has it as a sedative so we can catch him when he goes to the vet. He can be very dozy for quite a while after being dosed up with it.

I'm a veterinary nurse and i can reassure you that the majority of our cat owner clients feed their cat food from the list the pp mentioned without problems.
There are endless companies churning out cat food ,obviously some better quality than others but if you hit on one that suits them i suggest you stick with it whether that be supermarkets own or royal canin for examples.
You can put extra water onto the wet food so you know they are having more water intake that way.
I am not undermining your vets advice there is a lot to be said for prescription diets in your cats circumstance and hopefully you may only need it temporarily.
I hope they are feeling better soon.